Ahhh, what a pretty site!!  We have seen over $150 Million invested in our neighboring roadways from David to Boquete and much has changed over the last 12 years that we have lived here.

Here is how the rest of the region shapes up. In terms of quality, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador are the countries in the region with the best road infrastructure, while Costa Rica and Guatemala continue to lag behind.

The Global Competitiveness Index, elaborated by Deloitte, measures the characteristics of 140 economies of the world in different areas, among which the analysis of the connectivity and quality of the road infrastructure of the countries stands out.

You may be interested in “$143 Million Investment in Roads Announced”

Regarding connectivity, which measures how long it takes drivers to move from one place to another, the report states that the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Panama and Nicaragua are the best rated. Honduras, Costa Rica and Guatemala are the least favored with the grades.

Federico Villalobos, Deloitte’s financial advisory director, explained to Nacion.com that “… this is the first time the report includes the connectivity indicator, which measures how long drivers take to get from one place to another. Meanwhile, quality is a question asked to the productive sector about the condition of roads.”

Also see “Central America: $270 Million in Road Projects”

Regarding Costa Rica’s results, Villalobos added that “… To put it in perspective, in connectivity we are only ahead of Guatemala and in quality we only surpass Guatemala and Paraguay. These positions respond to the country’s limited investment in infrastructure. That is because of two main factors, which are the financial limitations that we all know and, second, we have a very deep lack of planning and preparation of projects.”